Brendon O'Connor is winning his fitness fight ahead of Leicester Tigers' European Cup trip to Paris

Tigers head coach Matt O'Connor speaks to the media ahead of the trip to France

Share

Get Daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

Brendon O’Connor is likely to take his place back in the Leicester Tigers squad as they prepare to face Racing 92 in Paris on Saturday afternoon in the European Cup.

O’Connor damaged a hamstring against Northampton Saints in just the second game of the season and although he returned from the bench against Exeter Chiefs, he did not feature the following week at Harlequins, or last week at London Irish, Will Evans replacing him to good effect on the openside at the Madejski Stadium.

“Brendon has trained and is over that hamstring,” said head coach Matt O’Connor. “We took a little bit of a precaution around what he did last week because we didn’t want him to be out for an extended period.

Read More

“He probably could have played against Irish but we thought it would be smarter to keep him fresh and available for what’s around the corner.”

However, there was disappointing news for another flanker, Dom Ryan. The Ireland international, who joined Tigers in the summer from Leinster, faces an extended spell on the sidelines after picking up a head injury, which has ruled him out since the win over Quins.

“Dominic had a couple of head knocks before he got here and then he picked up a head knock while he was here, so it has been decided to stand him down for three months which is standard procedure at the moment,” O’Connor said. “He is a little bit frustrated by that because he was just starting to understand the furniture at a new club but his welfare is paramount and we will look forward to having him back around Christmas.”

Despite losing Ryan, Tigers still have plenty to choose from in the back row, where Evans reminded everyone last week of his talent.

Read More

“Will was really good,” O’Connor said. “Tino (Mapapalangi) was good at No.8 so there are plenty of options there in the back row.”

No.8 Sione Kalamafoni is expected to be fit to face Racing after his head injury at Irish. The same applies to scrum-half Sam Harrison. Both full-back Telusa Veainu and scrum-half Ben Youngs, who missed that game through illness, have returned to full training and will be ready for the clash at the Stade Yves du Manoir.

Graham Kitchener remains a doubt as he recovers from the cracked eye socket he sustained at Northampton. O’Connor said a decision on the lock forward would be taken later in the week. However, with Dan Tuohy arriving at the club on loan – and making a rock-solid debut last weekend – Tigers do not have a shortage of second rowers to select from.